5 Quotes From Movies That Teach Marketing

There’s a reason why they don’t make movies focused solely on teaching marketing techniques to people. It would be boring to everyone, even to marketers. Movies are for entertainment, first and foremost. However, that does not necessarily mean that there isn’t any marketing wisdom to be found in movies. In fact, there are numerous films that provide useful selling and marketing knowledge. Here are 5 of the best ones:

“Ninety percent of what you’re saying isn’t coming out of your mouth.” – Hitch

There are many parallels to be found between courting the opposite sex and marketing to people, so it’s no surprise that a film about dating will have a good tip about marketing. The quote teaches that words are usually only a tiny fraction of your entire marketing message. Your presentation, your timing, your platform, and even your reputation may end up being bigger factors when it comes to influencing potential customers.

“Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?” – What A Girl Wants

Don’t mind the sappy romance angle in the film. This quote is one of the most crucial lessons that you need to learn. You can follow what other marketers are doing as much as you want, but you shouldn’t try so hard to follow what everyone is doing. If you want to succeed you have to stand out. Find your niche and let everybody do the same old tired thing while you strike fertile new ground.

“When the lives of your family are at stake, don’t you think you should put your faith in someone who can afford shoes?” – Ashes of Time

You wouldn’t expect an art film about martial artists to contain an important marketing lesson, but Wong Kar Wai’s Ashes of Time teaches the importance of value proposition. The film masterfully shows how a mercenary broker was able to market a more expensive assassin to money-strapped customers even though there are cheaper swordsmen available. Instead of lowering his price, he just showed the customers the value of his services and why it’s worth every penny.

“The key to this business is personal relationships.” – Jerry Maguire

Most people would remember Jerry Maguire for the “Show me the money!” quote, but this one is more meaningful. If you want to market effectively to people, you have to consider them as individuals and try to connect with them on a more personal level. Of course, it’s still important to analyze metrics and data, but it should never reach a point where you can no longer see people as anything other than numbers and statistics.

“Money is not the prime asset in life. Time is.” – Wall Street

This quote shows the reason why many marketers fail. They approach customers with the mindset that money is the most important thing for a person. That is simply not the case. Money is only important for people because it gets them the things that they really consider important.

What other quotes do you remember from movies that teach marketing?